ABS-CBN to launch ‘experience store’ next year

Lopez-owned media and entertainment company ABS-CBN Corp. plans to open its first flagship “experience store” next year as part of its growing consumer business.

Carlo Katigbak, ABS-CBN president and chief executive officer, said that the company’s thrust into retail or the direct to consumer business aims to provide delightful and meaningful experiences for its customers.

“In the age of digital consumption and with content and storytelling as anchor, the company strives to use technology that enables Filipinos all over the world to gain access to these unique experiences,” Katigbak said in a keynote speech delivered at the 23rd National Retailers Conference and Expo.

“We envision the store to be a place where people can re-enact scenes from their favorite shows, where they can come to regularly interact with our stars, and where they can find new ways to experience everything ABS-CBN has to offer,” he added.

He said the company’s consumer businesses account for P17 billion of annual revenues, or 45 percent of total company revenues. The remaining 55 percent is generated from advertising.

ABS-CBN’s consumer business is generated from three types of businesses — subscription, ticketed experiences, and durable goods.

The subscription business, which includes cable and broadband provider SKY, The Filipino Channel, and ABS-CBNmobile, is the largest contributor to the company’s consumer sales.

The ticketed experiences category, which includes movies, concerts, mall events, studio tours and the recently launched mini-theme park Kidzania, is the second largest consumer business sales contributor.

Katigbak added that the home shopping project is now nearly a P1 billion business and that 70 percent of the purchases made are paid through cash on delivery with a cancellation rate of only 5 percent on COD.

He added the company was able to sell pay-per-view on ABS-CBN TVplus by allowing consumers to pay using their loads on their ABS-CBNmobile phones.

“There’s so much more that we are excited to do with mobile phones. Think about being able to buy our music or our movies over the internet, and paying for it via load instead of via credit card. Between COD and mobile payment, we really believe we have powerful enablers for doing business on a digital platform,” he said.

According to Katigbak, the company is inventing new ways, outside of watching shows on TV, that allow its customers’ experiences to be more immersive and interactive such as mall shows which they do over 200 a year.

“We need to deliver unique customer experiences. And if these experiences are good enough, if they deepen the emotional connections with our content, if they create an emotional high, then a happy consequence of that is we are able to sell merchandise too,” he said.

ABS-CBN is home to the nation’s top-rating TV programs, box-office films, and best-selling books and music. With the ability to harness the latest in technology and innovation, the company is rapidly transitioning into an agile digital company with the biggest online presence among all media companies, and a growing list of digital properties.

ABS-CBN was also first in the country to offer content online and on mobile, and even pioneered digital television in the nation.

The Philippine Retailers Association (PRA) first came into being as the Chamber of Philippine Department Stores and Retailers, Inc. (CPDSRI) in 1976. In 1991, after winning the bid to host the 6th Asian Retailers Conference and Expo, the bi-annual event of the Federation of Asian Retail Associations (FARA), the Chamber changed its name into Philippine Retailers Association and adopted the now famous shopping bag logo.